Ban Conversion Therapy Project to become sponsored by KY Youth Law Project

Ban Conversion Therapy Project to become sponsored by KY Youth Law Project

The Kentucky Youth Law Project, Inc. has agreed to become the fiscal sponsor of Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky as of June 1, 2019. A fiscal sponsorship is a formal arrangement in which a 501(c)(3) public charity, like KYLP, sponsors a project that may lack exempt status. This arrangement will allow BCTK to take advantage of KYLP’s tax exempt status to seek grants and raise funds for its work in seeking to prevent licensed mental health providers from using the abusive practice of sexual orientation change efforts, or “SOCE,” known more commonly as “conversion therapy” or “reparative therapy.” Under a Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement signed by KYLP Legal Director, Keith D. Elston, and BCTK Executive Director, Tanner Mobley, BCTK will become a project of the Kentucky Youth Law Project, Inc. in order for KYLP to administer donor gifts, grant awards, and oversee the activities of BCTK to ensure compliance with federal and state laws regarding political activities by a charitable organization.

“This joint agreement between our two organizations unites us in an important aspect of the work of the Kentucky Youth Law Project,” KYLP Legal Director, Keith D. Elston said. KYLP was one of the original signatories on the The National Center for Lesbian Rights’ Born Perfect: The Campaign to End Conversion Therapy by passing laws across the country to protect LGBT children and young people, fighting in courtrooms to ensure their safety, and raising awareness about the serious harms caused by these dangerous practices.

“Having KYLP as our fiscal sponsor is a crucial step in raising awareness on the dangers of so-called ‘conversion therapy’,” said BCTK Executive Director Tanner A. Mobley, “and will make it possible for us ban these dangerous and discredited practices in once and for all.” BCTK works closely with The Trevor Project’s “50 Bills, 50 States” Campaign to protect LGBTQ youth from these discredited and abusive practices across the United States.

The mission of the Kentucky Youth Law Project, Inc. is to enhance and protect the legal rights and entitlements of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, gender fluid, and gender non-conforming youth through no-fee legal representation, education, and public policy advocacy. Because up to 40% of all youth who experience homelessness self-identify as LGBTQI+, the organization’s goal is to reduce homelessness and promote equal treatment for LGBTQI+ youth in social welfare agencies, government services, the courts, and public schools throughout Kentucky.

Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky is a loose affiliation of individuals and organizations who desire to advocate for public policy and legislation that forbids the use of so-called “conversion therapy” practices to youth under age 18.